The Name on the Marquee: WWF Wrestling Challenge - August 1987

Posted by Adam Nedeff on 09.24.2009

Bam-Bam Bigelow becomes the biggest star in the world without saying a word or lacing his boots.

-When we last left off, it was July 1987. We'll pick up now with the latest twist in the story, as the month changes over to August.

-Originally aired August 2, 1987.

-We’re in Lake Placid, NY, “Where the US squashed the Soviets,” sayeth the Gorilla.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. Bobby has Suzette the Federette remove his neckbrace to commemorate the arrival of a new member of the Heenan Family. He basically admits that he was milking the injury out of fear, but since Ken Patera is doomed now, he doesn’t need it.

RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE (with Elizabeth) vs. BRADY BOONE
-Heenan says that Elizabeth is too beautiful to have “a piece of meat like that hanging off her arm.” Interesting.

-Savage armdrags Boone right off as Gorilla & The Brain play up Boone as a future star in the company. Savage misses a charge and Boone capitalizes with a dropkick to send Savage to the floor. Savage re-enters and takes Boone down with a shoulderblock. ‘Rana by Boone and Savage goes outside. So, to recap, the fans treat him as a face, the commentators treat him as a face, other wrestlers treat him as a face, he still works heel. Welcome to tweenerdom, Randy.

-Boone shoulderblocks Savage and goes for another ‘rana, but Savage counters and makes it a powerbomb. He snaps Boone’s neck over the top rope and chokes him out. Snapmare and a kneedrop, then he tosses Boone to the floor. Back in the ring, Boone catches Savage with a spinning kick and a kneelift. He goes for a moonsault, Savage dodges, Boone lands on his feet in anticipation, Savage is able to stop him anyway and throws him to the floor again. Axehandle from the top rope. Back in the ring, Savage slams Boone and finishes with the flying elbow. Without a doubt, the best squash match of 1987. Now there’s a weird compliment to pay.

JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS vs. RICK RENSLOW
-Renslow whips Jake into the ropes and gets caught with a kneelift. Snapmare by Jake and he goes to work on Renslow’s neck with a lot of impact moves like elbows and a slingshot to the bottom rope. He faceplants Renslow and launches him to the floor. Jake, acting mighty pissed off this week for some reason, punches the hell out of Renslow before finishing him off with the DDT.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Danny Davis about his tremendous success in the fields of never wrestling a fucking match and talking like a gangster in a B-movie.

-Gorilla Monsoon promotes the “Lunch with Hulk Hogan” contest. The WWE Classics staff does an incredible job of blurring “WWF” in four different places when we’re shown a page from the magazine. Heenan: “He’d probably stick you with the check.”

HART FOUNDATION (Tag Team Champions, with Jimmy Hart) vs. SIVI AFI & SD JONES
-Bret starts with Afi as Jimmy Hart drops in to assure us that he’s going to capture the World Title and collect all the gold once Bam-Bam Bigelow debuts. Heenan once again clarifies that he’s the one who signed Bam-Bam.

-Harts double-team Afi. Anvil hammers Afi down and brings Bret back in. Bret elbows Afi and brings Anvil back in. Standing dropkick by Anvil and he goes for the pin; he thinks better of it and picks Afi up at two. Bret chokes out Afi in the corner as Anvil & Jimmy distract the referee. Inverted atomic drop by Bret, but he misses an elbow and SD Jones tags in for the false hope segment of this match, leveling Bret with punches and headbutts. Bret catches him coming off the ropes with a backbreaker. Hart Attack finishes.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Outback Jack. He talks about Killer Khan’s Mongolian mist. His right eye is still bothering him and compares it to “being maced by a chicky.”

-We go to footage from the Sam Houston Coliseum of Sherri Martell pinning Fabulous Moolah and winning the WWF Ladies Title.

KOKO B. WARE vs. TERRY GIBBS
-Gibbs ties up Koko in a side headlock. Koko sends him into the ropes and slams him down. Gibbs retreats to the corner, but gets London Bridged back to the middle of the ring and goes to work on the arm. Gibbs fights back with a kneelift. Koko comes back quickly and gets a two-count. Headbutt to the gut by Gibbs and he punches away at Koko. Gibbs stomps a mudhole, but fails to walk it dry, so Koko manages to come back with a headbutt. Missile dropkick is the beginning of the end. The ghostbuster is the end.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW
-Craig DeGeorge talks to Outlaw Ron Bass about Miss Betsy. Bass discusses his ongoing feud with…well, with the booking committee, because we’re almost at one year now and he still ain’t done shit.

HERCULES (with Bobby Heenan) vs. JERRY ALLEN
-Johnny V joins us for commentary as Hercules pounds Allen down. Allen catches him with a pair of dropkicks before getting clotheslined back down to earth. Press slam by Hercules, followed by an elbow and another elbow. Allen comes back with kicks & punches as we inevitably turn our attention to Bam-Bam Bigelow, and we get another look at Bobby Heenan’s video of Bam-Bam looking menacing.

-Hercules locks in the full nelson to finish, and, uh, that’s it.

JUNKYARD DOG & KILLER BEES vs. TIGER CHUNG LEE, JOE MIRTO, & DAVE WAGNER
-Blair starts with Lee. They trade hammerlocks and Lee elbows free but gets flipped by the Bee. Mirto tags in and walks into a double clothesline for two. Brunzell monkeyflips Mirto while holding onto a wristlock. Mirto catches him with a bearhug, but Brunzell claps his hands, say yeah, and in comes JYD. JYD headbutts Mirto and backs him into the ropes. He breaks cleanly and tags in Blair. Blair cleans house on everybody. Brunzell connects with a skullcracker for two. Dave Wagner tries his luck and gets attacked in every direction. Kneelift by Brunzell; Blair comes off the second rope with an elbow to work the arm. JYD & Brunzell go to work on the arm together. Bee sting by Blair, Thump by JYD, and that’s it.

-Gene Okerlund talks to the Rougeaus about the tough tag team competition in the WWF.

-That’s the end of the show. Hmm…they rather heavily hyped the fact that Superstar Billy Graham was returning this week, and Gorilla even mentioned it at the top of the show. Were they pressed for time? Did he have a match so bad they didn’t air it? Was he still so injured that they decided to hold it off for a few more weeks?

-Onward to a new week!

-Originally aired August 9, 1987.

-Once again in Lake Placid, NY.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Johnny V.

ISLANDERS (with Bobby Heenan) vs. OMAR ATLAS & RICKY HUNTER
-Your “WTF?” of the night: Omar Atlas is wearing a vest with a picture of Winnie the Pooh made from sequins on the back. Now THAT’S a jobber.

-Tama attacks Atlas with chops but gets caught with a bodypress for two. Atlas goes for an arm wringer and Tama chops free and kicks him down. Haku tags in and offers a kick of his own. He goes to work on the eyes and chops Atlas between the eyes. Rick Martel drops in to promise to keep up the fight against the Islanders, even if he’s on his own now.

-Back to the ring, Tama chokes out Atlas and the Islanders stomp away at him, getting their feet covered in Pooh as a result. Tama misses an elbow and in comes Ricky Hunter. He gets a few knee lifts but gets headbutted down by Tama. Haku adds an inverted atomic drop. Elbow by Tama, and double diving headbutts finish things.

-We go to more footage of The Million Dollar Man at a house show. Virgil unlaces his boss’ boot and DiBiase offers $100 to anybody willing to kiss his sweaty bare foot. A teenager comes in and takes the offer, kissing DiBiase’s foot and walking off with the cash. The somewhat-well-known trivia footnote about this piece: The teenage kid is Rob Van Dam.

TITO SANTANA & HILLBILLY JIM vs. JOE MIRTO & BARRY HOROWITZ
-Mirto tries an amateur takedown on Jim, but Jim just uses his mighty bumpkin strength to pull his arms apart. Mirto throws fists as we cut to Little Beaver doing a pratfall in the locker room. O….kay…

-Back to the ring Tito dropkicks Horowitz and backdrops him. Armbar by Tito; Horowitz sends him into the ropes but gets shoulderblocked. Mirto comes back in and runs into a dropkick. Flying forearm looks to finish, but Tito’s feeling it this week and goes to the figure four to get the submission.

-Gene Okerlund has a word with the Slickster, who is outraged that the old, broken-down jalopy-bodied Superstar Billy Graham dared to compare his body to Butch Reed.

-The Jumping Bomb Angels offer a plug in Japanese for WWF Superstars Ice Cream Bars. That’s a hell of a way to make a debut.

HONKY TONK MAN (Intercontinental Champion, with Jimmy Hart) vs. DAVID STOUDIMIERE
-Finally, all of the unanswered questions from their last encounter will be settled! Arm wringers are exchanged, and Honky goes to the eyes to take advantage. He dodges a kick and lays some axehandles into the back. Elbow by Honky, and a kneelift takes Stoudimiere out of the ring. Honky follows him out and jaws with the fans while keeping on top of Stoudimiere. Back in the ring, Honky keeps pounding away and clotheslines him. Shake, Rattle, & Roll gives Honky the win.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Bobby Heenan & King Harley Race. Race wears a crown because it symbolizes that he’s far above and beyond Hulk Hogan & Honky Tonk Man. Bobby Heenan says he’s considering signing matches where Race will defend the crown like it’s a title. It actually took a while for him to get around to that.

BRUTUS “The Barber” BEEFCAKE & ROUGEAU BROTHERS vs. MARIO MANCINI, DUSTY WOLF, & IRON MIKE SHARPE
-Beefcake starts with Sharpe. Lock-up compels Sharpe to complain about hair-pulling. Along comes Danny Davis to chastise referees for not stopping Brutus Beefcake from cutting hair.

-Back to the ring, Brutus clotheslines everything in sight, but gets caught in the wrong corner and triple-teamed. Wolf steps in to hammer Beefcake and Brutus eventually elbows his way out of the corner and tags in Jacques. Dropkicks for everybody, and Sharpe gets whipped into the corner. Raymond mule kicks him. Mancini comes in and falls prey to a backdrop by Beefcake. Sleeper finishes while the Rougeaus keep the other jobbers at bay. Iron Mike and Dusty leave the arena in a huff, so Beefcake cuts some hair post-match with no one to stop him…

-Until Danny Davis shows up to protest. The forces of good chase him out of the ring and Danny settles for yelling at the referee for doing a terrible job. Brutus goes an extra mile and spraypaints a giant B across Mancini’s chest.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW
-Craig DeGeorge is on the platform having words with Johnny V & Dream Team. The running gag at this point is that Johnny V’s hair just keeps getting worse & worse with every passing week because Beefcake keeps avenging him at house shows.

POSEDOWN: SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM vs. “The Natural” BUTCH REED (with Slick)
-We go to WWF Superstars of Wrestling for pretty much the same bit that Ultimate Warrior & Rick Rude did at the Royal Rumble a while later. Billy poses, crowd cheers. Reed poses, crowd boos. Reed loses posedown, beats up Graham.

-Mr. Fuji & Slick argue about which one of them has signed Bam-Bam Bigelow.

RAVISHING RICK RUDE (with Bobby Heenan) vs. LEAPING LANNY POFFO
-Bobby Heenan introduces his new charge, boasting that he has the greatest body in all of professional wrestling. It’s so WEIRD to see Rude come to the ring with no music. He does the “keep the noise down while I take my robe off” bit, though, so there’s some semblance of normalcy about this.

-Rude attacks right away and powerslams Poffo for two, stopping the count so he can get up and pose. Rude goes to the top rope and connects with a fist for two. Springboard suplex finishes.

-Gene Okerlund has a word with Randy Savage. He wants the World Title! He’s going to keep going after Hulk Hogan, even if it takes 10, 15, or 20 years. Holy shit, he kept his word.

-Next week’s a comin’!!!

-Originally aired August 16, 1987.

-We’re in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

-Your hosts are the exceptionally tan Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan.

SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM vs. BARRY HOROWITZ
-Graham’s back, but “Jesus Christ, Superstar” is predictably missing. Graham dominates with power moves, and Horowitz falls out to the floor from a shoulderblock. Butch Reed comes in to vow that he’ll be “shooting for the hip” when they get in the ring.

-Graham backdrops Horowitz and clamps on a bearhug to get the submission.

THE BATTLE FOR BAM-BAM
-Speculation is rampant about which manager has signed Bam-Bam Bigelow. It’s not Jimmy Hart, who announces that he hasn’t been able to sign Bam-Bam, but that’s okay, because he still has all the gold in the WWF. Classy Freddie Blassie returns to say that he wouldn’t want to manage Bam-Bam because the guy has so much going for him that managing him would be too much of a job. Next week: every manager and commentator in the WWF forms an orderly queue and gives Bam-Bam a rainbow party to celebrate his impending debut.

ONE MAN GANG (with Slick) vs. BILLY BOWMAN
-Gang attacks Bowman as Gorilla announces that Gang has been fined $10,000 by Jack Tunney for some despicable but unspecified incident from last week. Slick says he’s going to make Gang & Bam-Bam into a tag team.

-Clothesline by Gang and he chokes Bowman over the top rope. Gang punches him over and over in the corner, then slams him down. Gourdbuster finishes.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Jake “The Snake” Roberts about recent neck & back surgery. Jake is okay with it because that’s the price that comes with competing in the WWF. He still wants a piece of Honky Tonk Man.

-We go to WWF Superstars of Wrestling, where Bob Orton & Magnificent Muraco battle it out at ringside; it spills over the barricade and into the crowd.

KOKO B. WARE vs. BRIAN COSTELLO
-Ware monkeyflips Costello and the crowd is just popping like crazy for the Birdman this week. Dropkick by Koko as Gorilla notes that Koko sings the title cut on the WWF’s new album, Piledriver. I bet that’s why the crowd was popping huge for him.

-Costello mounts a comeback but makes the always fatal mistake of headbutting a black man, and Koko dominates from that point forward. Missile dropkick sets up the ghostbuster, and that’s the end.

-Gene Okerlund talks to the new Ladies Champion, Sherri Martell. Nothing says “champion” like Brett Sommers glasses, Sherri. She declares that she’s the #1 woman in the world because she has the belt and she can cook. So there.

NON-TITLE: HART FOUNDATION (with Danny Davis & Jimmy Hart) vs. JIM POWERS & PAUL ROMA
-From Superstars of Wrestling. Mr. T is going to be the enforcer for this bout. Davis gets right in his face before the Harts attack Powers & Roma from behind to clear the ring. Bret & Powers are the legal men and Bret dominates with a backbreaker. Powers gets double-teamed while we get pre-recorded words from Danny Davis, complaining that the current crop of referees stinks.

-Bret keeps punching away at Powers; Anvil comes in and slams him down. Bret comes back in and crashes into the turnbuckles on a reversed Irish whip. Paul Roma cleans house with dropkicks and Anvil accidentally shoulderblocks Bret in the process. Roma is all over Bret, but Bret catches him running toward the corner and powerbombs him (I’ll be damned) and Flair-pins him for the three-count.

-Ah-ha, but here’s Mr. T to tell the referee about Bret’s chicanery, and it’s a win for Jim Powers & Paul Roma. Powers & Roma dropkick the Harts out of the ring, and Mr. T kicks Danny Davis’ ass for good measure.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW
-Craig DeGeorge has Ted DiBiase on the platform. DiBiase snatches the microphone away from him and totally commandeers the segment. He offers $300 to a woman who is either Linda McMahon or an uncanny look-alike (I still can’t decide) to get on all fours and bark like a dog. He makes her do it over and over again because she can’t do it to his satisfaction, and DiBiase gets so frustrated with her that he decides not to pay her at all.

-We get words from David Wolff about Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II. He says that Jack Tunney approached him over the winter about recording another album; furthermore, unequivocally, it was their decision to record it.

RAVISHING RICK RUDE (with Bobby Heenan) vs. SONNY ROGERS
-Press slam by Rude immediately, although Gorilla’s not impressed because he did it Volkoff-style, pulling the tights. Clothesline by Rude as we get a pre-recorded extreme-close-up of Rude’s abs. The Ravishing One finishes with a body vice.

KAMALA & SIKA (with Mr. Fuji & Kimchee) vs. LEAPING LANNY POFFO & MARK RICHARDS
-Kamala starts with Poffo. He misses a charge and Poffo just lights into him while Mr. Fuji promises to turn Bam-Bam Bigelow’s flames into a volcano.

-Sika comes in to dominate Richards with choking and headbutts. Samoan drop sets up the splash, and Kamala’s feeling it this week, so we get Air Uganda to finish things.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Mr. Fuji, who trains Killer Khan by hitting him with a 2x4, or so he says. They talk about Khan’s sumo background and says the emperor declared Khan the greatest athlete in Japan. So, for those keeping track, Mongolia is in Japan.

-Here’s next week…

-Originally aired August 23, 1987.

-We’re in LaCrosse, WI.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan.

-Before we even roll the opening, we take a look at a house show where Ted DiBiase drops money on the floor and tells the fans to “Get down on the floor for it! In the dirt and the gum! Fight the others for it!”

“Million Dollar Man” TED DIBIASE (with Virgil) vs. CHRIS CURTIS
-This is billed as DiBiase’s television in-ring debut, but he has other ideas. Chris Curtis is such a lowly jobber (a “preliminary bum,” DiBiase calls him) that he’s not worthy of facing a main event star. DiBiase has $5,000 in cash and asks another jobber named Mister Washington to come to the ring to wrestle the match for him.

-So Curtis ambushes Washington with stomps and a front facelock. Snapmare and a kneedrop by Curtis, followed by a chokehold. Another front facelock by Curtis, and he gets bored with that and elbows Washington down, then chokes him on the middle rope. Boot to the face and a backbreaker finishes for Curtis.

-Post-match, DiBiase takes his five grand back and absolutely mauls Washington.

SPECIAL REPORT WITH CRAIG DEGEORGE
-This hasn’t been such a great time for Rick Martel, still reeling from the disappearance of “his partner.” We go to WWF Superstars of Wrestling, where Tito Santana is doing color commentary for the WWF Spanish Network when Martel gets attacked and double-teamed by the Islanders. Tito abandons his post and darts to the ring, taking care of both Islanders single-handedly.

-The Federettes love WWF Ice Cream Bars!

JUNKYARD DOG vs. RICK RENSLOW
-Hiptoss and rolling headbutts by the Dog, and he just uses the force of his head to push Renslow backward until he crotches himself on the post. Headlock by JYD, but Renslow goes to the eyes. JYD recovers quickly and punches Renslow down. Thump gives JYD the win.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Ravishing Rick Rude. Okerlund talks about the path that Andre the Giant’s career and Ken Patera’s career took when they were managed by Bobby Heenan and wonders if Rude knows what he’s doing.

THE BATTLE FOR BAM-BAM
-Jesse Ventura has bad news for Johnny V. He’s out of the running for Bam-Bam Bigelow’s contract.

-Mel Phillips introduces WWF Ladies Champion Sherri Martell. Martell grabs the microphone and announces that from now on, she wants to be known as….drumroll…the Sensational Sherri.

NEW DREAM TEAM (with Johnny V) vs. SIVI AFI & JIM EVANS
-Dino starts with Afi. They jockey for position until Afi manages to shoulderblock Dino down. Bodypress by Afi gets two. Armdrag into an armbar by Afi. Dino fights it and they trade arm wringers. Dino manages to take him down and slams him to the mat. Elbow by Dino and he brings in the Hammer. Kneedrop by Valentine, followed by a shoulderbreaker for two. Chops by Valentine, but Afi starts fighting back and they trade punches. Afi manages to roll him up for two, then tags out to Evans. Valentine slams him down and drops the elbow. In comes Dino with a hell of a back suplex and a stomp. Valentine comes back in and suplexes Evans, then drops a series of elbows. Side suplex by Dino, figure four by Valentine, and it’s all over.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Koko B. Ware about Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II. Koko gives us a few bars.

BULLDOG DOG TIPS
-The British Bulldogs give proper tips for raising a happy, healthy dog. This week’s tip: Exercise your dog. Take her for a walk, make sure she gets fresh air.

RANDY “Macho Man” SAVAGE (with Elizabeth) vs. SCOTT CASEY
-Kneelifts by Savage and he chokes Casey on the top rope. Casey catches Savage coming off the ropes with a scoop slam for two, and Savage goes to the floor, where he hilariously blames Mel Phillips for the trouble he’s having in the ring. Casey goes after Savage and he uses Elizabeth as a human shield. I get the feeling Savage is going to miss being a heel. Back in the ring, Casey manages to get no less than three two-counts on Savage in the space of about twenty seconds and hammers away at Savage. He goes for a bulldog, but Savage counters by crotching him on the turnbuckle and sending him out to the floor. Double axehandle from the top rope, and back inside, Savage finishes with the flying elbow to finish.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW
-Craig DeGeorge is at the platform with Colonel Jimmy Hart. He’s thrilled to death about the upcoming release of Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II. He’s especially excited about “Crank It Up,” which is exactly what he does with all of his men before big matches. Eww. He brings out Dangerous Danny Davis for a major announcement: Danny is going to start wrestling on TV! Hey, way to strike while the iron is relatively lukewarm!

BRUTUS “The Barber” BEEFCAKE vs. TOM STONE
-We get treated to a photo of Brutus being trained by World Champion Hair Stylist Salvatore Fedora. The spirit of TNT lives on!

-Brutus dominates Stone and finishes quickly with the sleeper. He drags Stone’s limp body over to the corner where his bag of barber equipment, and Heenan mocks him, asking, “Wouldn’t it have been easier to bring the bag over to Stone?” And sure enough, that’s exactly the way Beefcake began doing it after a while. He cuts Stone’s hair and spraypaints a big blue B across Stone’s chest. That’ll teach him to vote for McCain.

-Honky Tonk Man has a few words about the ten-year anniversary of Elvis’ death. Big deal, Honky plans on still being Intercontinental Champion in ten years.

DEMOLITION (with Mr. Fuji) vs. OMAR ATLAS & PETE SANCHEZ
-Joined in progress for some reason. Demolition destroys Omar Atlas while we get some pre-recorded words about “Demolition” on Piledriver. Even Gorilla concedes that it’s a pretty cool song.

-Back to the ring, Demolition finishes Sanchez with the Decapitator.

-One more week to go…

-Originally aired August 30, 1987.

-We’re still in LaCrosse, WI.

-Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan, accompanied by the Federettes.

-Gene Okerlund introduces Governor Tommy Thompson. Thompson announces a six-woman Bikini Bash for tonight’s episode, and then announces that Butch Reed must wrestle One Man Gang at Saturday Night’s Big Event.

JAKE “The Snake” ROBERTS vs. STEVE LOMBARDI
-The commentators get into a pretty funny debate about Steve Lombardi knocking on the door of greatness, or maybe being in the backyard of greatness, or possibly the same neighborhood as greatness.

-Lombardi starts off hot with shoulderblocks in the corner and tries working the arm, but Jake turns it into his own arm wringer. Short clothesline looks to finish, but Jake drags it out a little further, grinding his forearm across Lombardi’s face while holding him in an armbar. Jake switches to a wristlock and holds onto it forever. He stomps on Lombardi, then goes back to the wristlock. Jake knows that this is a TV squash, right?

-Lombardi finally starts throwing punches with his free arm. That breaks the wristlock, but Jake manages to deflect most of the punches and then faceplants him. DDT finishes, and along comes Damien.

SPECIAL REPORT WITH CRAIG DEGEORGE
-Martel is pleased that Tito Santana helped him out, so they’re a tag team now, and they’re going to come after the Islanders with FORCE! In fact, they’re coming with so much force that they’re just going to start calling themselves that…Strike Force, ladies and gentlemen!

THE BATTLE FOR BAM-BAM
-Jesse Ventura breaks the bad news to Mr. Fuji. “What go on?” he asks in confusion.

KILLER KHAN (with Mr. Fuji) vs. JACK MILLIMAN
-Khan kicks and chops Milliman, then stomps him and stomps him and stomps him. He chokes Milliman over the bottom rope and grinds a forearm over his face. Hard chop and a kick to the chest by Khan. Green mist and a backbreaker are sold with a phenomenal scream by Milliman. Kneedrop from the top rope finishes for Khan.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Jimmy Hart & the Honky Tonk Man. Nobody is grieving the ten-year anniversary of Elvis’ death because they’re too busy celebrating Honky’s dominance with the Intercontinental Title. Even Randy Savage wasn’t as great a champion as him! Uh-oh…

-Magnificent Muraco says he doesn’t need a tag team partner or a manager to guide him. He’s all alone now, and that’s how he likes it. He builds to his impending name change, saying he’s not a stone being dropped into a pond, he’s a boulder being dropped into a volcano.

“The Natural” BUTCH REED (with Slick & Nikolai Volkoff) vs. BRADY BOONE
-Reed prefers to start his matches with style, so he has Nikolai with him to sing the Soviet anthem. How deliciously random.

-Arm wringer by Reed to start, but Boone does a flip to reverse it. They trade reversals for a while as we get words from Slick, boasting that he’s going to take down all of the competition with Bam-Bam Bigelow.

-Back to action, Reed stomps Boone down and punches him. He sends Boone into the turnbuckle and gives him a HARD elbow off the ropes. Neckbreaker almost finishes, but Reed picks Boone up at two. Dropkick by Reed. Corner charge misses and Boone starts throwing dropkicks and forearms. Reed no-sells it all and kills Boone with a flying clothesline. Press slam finishes. Without delving into things too much, this struck me as Reed being told to give Boone some offense and deciding to be a dick about it.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Billy Jack Haynes about a recent knee injury inflicted on him by Hercules. He’s not going to cry about it, he just wants to get back into the ring and keep going.

BULLDOG DOG TIPS
-Make sure to give your dog plenty of water. Thanks, valuable 30 seconds of TV time!

GEORGE “The Animal” STEELE vs. RICK GANTNER
-Gantner attacks from behind and immediately regrets it, going from turnbuckle to turnbuckle. Gorilla announces that they’re about to show an interview that Bobby Heenan did last week and the Brain freaks out and leaves the broadcast table.

-Gantner keeps going from turnbuckle to turnbuckle, then tossed over the top rope and rammed into the steps. Steele rams his arms into the posts, then locks in the flying hammerlock to get the submission victory.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW
-From WWF Superstars of Wrestling. Craig DeGeorge talks to Bobby Heenan. He brings out “Mister Wonderful” Paul Orndorff to get a formal endorsement from Orndorff of the new member of the Heenan Family, Ravishing Rick Rude. He asks Orndorff to say that Rude has the best body in the WWF, which seems to rub Orndorff the wrong way. Heenan assures him, “You’ve got a great body, but his is just that much better!”

-Orndorff refuses to offer such praise and says he’s sick & tired of lying to the fans and to himself. And with that, for the second time ever, Paul Orndorff fires Bobby Heenan. And just to show that this is pre-meditated, Orndorff introduces his new manager, Sir Oliver Humperdink.

-Side note: I actually wish they had shown Humperdink’s debut promo while they were at it, because they really gave him a well-developed character right out of the starting gate. Humperdink explained that he came to the WWF because he had been trying for a long time to make a living as a wrestling manager, and he couldn’t do it because guys kept thinking that all wrestling managers were like Bobby Heenan and thus wanted nothing to do with him. So Humperdink came to the WWF to personally ruin Heenan’s career as an act of vengeance for all the trouble he had trying to start his own career as a manager. And that’s beautiful booking because instead of just making it “face manager vs. heel manager” arbitrarily, Humperdink had real motivation and justification in wanting to pick a fight, and his first act is to sign away a member of the Heenan Family, directly costing Heenan money. Even THEN, they never went to the trouble of developing a manager’s gimmick like that, so Humperdink’s arrival was actually something special.

HERCULES & KING HARLEY RACE (with Bobby Heenan) vs. JIM POWERS & PAUL ROMA
-Powers & Roma actually clear the ring, then switch off to work Hercules’ arm. Race knees Powers from the apron to turn the tide, then tags in and hits a belly-to-belly for two. Hercules elbows Powers down, then Irish whips him. Powers fights back with punches. Roma tags in and punches anything that moves. Hell of a dropkick and Race can’t tag Hercules in fast enough. Dropkick to Hercules and Roma gets a sunset flip for two. Race makes the save and we have a donnybrook. Race & Hercules are whipped into each other and both dropkicked into each other. Roma airplane spins Hercules and uses Hercules’ feet to kick Race in the head. Roma gets disoriented in the move, though, and gets rammed into the turnbuckle. Hercules pins him immediately, and Paul Roma jobs to dizziness.

KOKO B. WARE vs. DAVE WAGNER
-Hiptoss and a dropkick by Koko. Koko gives a pre-recorded plug for Piledriver.

-Back to the ring, wAGNER does the Bird to taunt Koko and gets forearmed over. Irish whip and a backdrop by Koko. Missile dropkick leads to the ghostbuster, ghostbuster leads to a three-count.

-Gene Okerlund talks to Mr. Fuji. The split-up of Orton & Muraco is disappointing, but he still has Demolition to bring him the gold.

-Also disappointing, we've reached the end of the month. More to come, but here's Game Show Utopia.

The 411: A pretty eventful month, with Bam-Bam's brilliantly-booked superpush continuing on. Meanwhile, you had a BUNCH of established stars being pushed in shiny new packaging and finding new things to do. Good pile of stuff here.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]